Taiwan's Foxconn says it wants customers to sell 'a lot' of EVs (updated)

Yulon Motor Co

18/10/2022 04:19

(Recasts, adds quotes, details)
       TAIPEI, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Foxconn, the world's largest
contract electronics maker, said on Tuesday it was not in the
business of selling its own electric vehicle (EV) brand but
wanted its customers to sell EVs in large numbers by opening up
the "closed loop" of auto manufacturing.
    The ambition lines up with Taiwan-based Foxconn's  2317.TW 
plans to ramp up EV business to help diversify away from its
role of assembling consumer gadgets like iPhones for Apple Inc
 AAPL.O  and other tech firms.
    Speaking at the company's annual Tech Day, Chairman Liu
Young-way said that along with an industry alliance known as the
Mobility in Harmony platform, Foxconn was "opening up the
closed-loop nature of traditional automaking" to halve design
times and slash development costs by a third.
    "Foxconn is not in the business of selling its own EV brand.
But, yes, we want our customers to sell a lot of EVs," Liu said
in pre-recorded remarks.
    The company has expanded into areas including EVs and
semiconductors in recent years, announcing deals with U.S.
startup Fisker Inc  FSR.N  and Indian conglomerate Vedanta Ltd
 VDAN.NS .
        Pre-orders for the Luxgen n7 EV, built by Foxtron, a
joint venture between Foxconn and Taiwanese car maker Yulon
Motor Co Ltd  2201.TW , hit 15,000 in less than two days, he
added. 
    "Despite the challenges of conflict in Europe and COVID
globally, Foxconn has maintained our EV strategy," Liu said. 
    "Supply chain resilience has always been Foxconn's DNA. Our
global footprint in 24 countries gives us a huge advantage to
meet EV industry demands."
 (Reporting by Sarah Wu; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by
Muralikumar Anantharaman and Kenneth Maxwell)
 ((ben.blanchard@thomsonreuters.com;))